The present invention relates, in general, to electronics, and more particularly, to methods of forming semiconductor devices and structure.
In the past, portable electronic systems often were powered by multiple power sources such as one of two batteries or from a battery and an AC wall outlet via an ac/dc converter or battery charger. A network of switches generally was used to control the flow of power depending on the mode of operation. For instance, if the portable device was powered from a primary battery while a secondary battery was charged, some switches were closed while other switches were open. In another mode, the switches may have been reversed. To be effective in all modes, the switches should have conducted and blocked in both directions. However, power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (power MOSFETs) could only block voltage in one direction. In the reverse direction the body diode of the MOSFET conducted current, thus, two power MOSFETs typically were connected in series to function as one switch. The two power MOSFETS typically were used with their drains tied together so that when the gate voltage was zero, one of the devices would always block the voltage applied across the two transistors regardless of the polarity. One example of such a switch was the NTLTD7900 offered by ON Semiconductor of Phoenix Ariz. Because such switches used two transistors, the switches used twice as much silicon as one transistor which increased the costs. Additionally, the on-resistance was high because the two transistors were in series. In some applications, it was desirable to have an additional current flow path.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a method of forming a bi-directional switch that reduces costs, that reduces the resistance of the bi-directional switch, and that has more than one current flow path.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and the same reference numbers in different figures denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements are omitted for simplicity of the description. As used herein current carrying electrode means an element of a device that carries current through the device such as a source or a drain of an MOS transistor or an emitter or a collector of a bipolar transistor or a cathode or anode of a diode, and a control electrode means an element of the device that controls current through the device such as a gate of an MOS transistor or a base of a bipolar transistor. Although the devices are explained herein as certain N-channel or P-Channel devices, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that complementary devices are also possible in accordance with the present invention. For clarity of the drawings, doped regions of device structures are illustrated as having generally straight line edges and precise angular corners. However, those skilled in the art understand that due to the diffusion and activation of dopants the edges of doped regions are generally not straight lines and the corners are not precise angles.
This application is related to an application entitled “BI-DIRECTIONAL TRANSISTOR AND METHOD THEREFOR” having a filing date of Mar. 31, 2005, having at least one common inventor, a common assignee, and an application Ser. No. 11/093,381 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.